I Can't Sustain It

Last night's Yacht Rock show was a dry run of the BeeGees stuff before tonight's big Andrews Upstairs gig.  I realize that this blog has become the catalog of my failures, but here's how it all went down:

First problem of the night was with the setlists. Somehow the setlist that Nick had sent out for Thursday did not come on the email I received, so to me it looked like both Thursday and Friday were the same thing.  I printed set lists for myself, Greg, Bencuya, and Cobb.  Right off the bat, we had to deal with that.

I discovered that my sustain pedal for the top keyboard was dead.  Luckily, there was an extra pedal in the crap behind the stage.  I plugged it in and it worked.  One problem solved!

As I was getting dressed before the gig, I realized that I'd forgotten my shades, so I had to sprint out to my truck and grab real sunglasses.

We trudged through the BeeGees stuff in the first set.  I don't think anything went horribly wrong, but we were all very unsure of ourselves, and I think it sounded that way.  Sometimes with this band, we come out and you can tell by the vibe (before we even hit the stage) that we are going to kick your ass.  Instead, we were kind of uptight.  I had some problems...I missed an entire chunk of Night Fever because I got lost in my chart.  I stumbled and had to stop playing in How Deep is Your Love.  The other ones were fine.  I wish I wasn't reading off charts for some of them, but I like having them there for the comfort factor.  We finished out the set with some Yacht Rock stuff that was pretty unspectacular.

After the break, we hit again (I should point out that the "Most Yachtily Dressed" contest was excellent last night, and it's been downright pathetic for some months!).  Everything felt really heavy, like we'd expended all of our mental energy in the BeeGees thing and had nothing left to give.  As for myself, I felt like I was a split second off on everything.  I couldn't quite get my brain up to speed--kind of like I was drunk, except I hadn't been drinking.

My laptop did the "underwater sound" where the processor gets backed up by too much delay and reverb in Africa, causing me to totally bail on the solo.  Very embarrassing, to say the least.  A couple of songs later we got into Hot Child in the City, and coming out of the bridge, the sustain pedal that I'd dug out from behind the stage started messing up.  It wouldn't stop sustaining!  I thought it was the keyboard, so I turned the volume down and then back up, but it was still sustaining.  I stomped on the pedal, but it was still sustaining!  Finally, I just turned off the keyboard.  That reset it.

Things were ok for a second, but the next song was Somebody's Baby, and the sustain pedal went haywire again, so I reached behind the board and yanked it out.  That fixed it!  I moved my other sustain pedal down to the bottom keyboard and things were fine.  We labored through a few more songs, and then I needed the pedal for the top keyboard, so I reached behind and yanked the plug out and put it in the top board.  No sustain!  Is it really possible for me to have gone through three pedals in one gig?  I really wanted to leave at that point.  I kept stomping on the pedal and trying to play my part.  Afterwards, it dawned on me that instead of plugging the sustain pedal in, I'd grabbed the plug for the volume pedal.  Stupidity reigns again.

I came home in a foul mood thinking that everything I'd played was horrible.  I played through all the BeeGees stuff again, and found that I did have a good bit of it under my fingers, and I remembered all the things I did correctly.  Maybe the second set damaged my feeling for the first?  Now I'm not so sure it was really horrible.  The second set was pretty horrendous, for sure.

Today I have a new sustain pedal (and an emergency pedal stashed behind the seat in my truck.  I am practicing my stuff (again), trying to get it all a little more in my head and under my fingers before tonight.
www.davidfreemanmusic.net

More House Live

Tonight was a House Live gig at Ventanas downtown for 3M.  Not much to say...it was around fifty men and a handful of females.

This is a picture of me pretending to play Wayne Viar's drum kit.  I have titled it "The Freeman Funk Machine."

I finally swapped out a couple of ancient soprano reeds (and played on a newer alto reed).  It made all the difference in the world.  I was thinking there was something wrong with my horns--and there was!  Old, dead reeds!

It is presently just after 5 AM.  I have been up for several hours desperately practicing my Bee Gees stuff for a Wednesday morning rehearsal.  I think I'm ready.  Time to sleep for a little bit!
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Dance Music all the Time

Last night (Sunday night), I played a House Live gig with Jeff Burnisky and Wayne Viar at the World Congress Center.  Like all of those gigs, it was very easy.  Nothing to report.  I ate all the fruit backstage and half of the raw vegetables.
It's 5:30 AM and I am still up, trying desperately to learn some Bee Gees stuff for a special Yacht Rock gig this Friday night at Andrews Upstairs.  We have a Wednesday morning rehearsal and I have a Tuesday night gig, so I need to get this stuff together ASAP.  I'm going to knock out one or two more songs and then crash.
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Surrounded by Fish

Yacht Rock played the Georgia Aquarium last night.  It was an extremely easy gig...I think we ended up playing one hour and a half set and it was over.  The sound was great and the crowd was good looking.  What more could you ask for?  Well...when you're playing at the Aquarium, those things would be "can we load out through the parking deck instead of the loading dock?" (the answer was yes), and "will the parking be comped?" (again, the answer was yes).  That's tough to beat!

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Just another Thursday Night

Last night's Yacht Rock gig was very plain.  I'm not sure if it was the lack of enthusiasm from the crowd or the absence of Mark Cobb, but the energy in the room was a bit low.  The playing was fine (more so in the first set than the second).  It could very well be that we were just flat.

For me, it was a pretty decent night.  No equipment problems last night, which leads me to believe that I have solved the mystery of my laptop.  It seems more "awake" and responsive...that seems like a strange thing to say about a machine!  What I mean is that when I bump the space bar to wake it up (so I can check what number is my next sound), it comes back up much quicker than it has in the last year.  One other thing that seems to be working better:  some of my sounds have a lot of delay (think the synth solo in Rosanna), and it seems like those delays start to add up over time and eventually overload the processor (and make my whole rig sound like it's underwater).  Hitting the space bar clears that up.  Last night, that was never an issue.  It could be the order of the songs, but I think at least some of it has to do with whatever it was I reset (the PRAM).

It was not a heavy saxophone night.  I did have a little hiccup in Silly Love Songs where I kind of stopped thinking for a second and messed up the little sax section thing.  I also got a little sloppy in Baker Street.

Before the gig we were watching episodes of The Midnight Special and heard a couple of songs that we perform on a regular basis.  I heard a fair number of things that I need to improve upon, specifically in the area of my keyboard playing.  When I first took on the role, I was just trying to get through the song, so I simplified things and eliminated things.  Now that I'm a bit more comfortable, I need to relearn them a little more accurately!

I have a busy week ahead.  Next Friday we are performing an entire set of Bee Gees stuff at Andrews, and the rehearsal is set for Wednesday morning.  I have gigs Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday.  Next Saturday I am performing on sax and keyboards with the Schooner (Yacht Rock B band), and there are a couple of songs I will need to learn for that.  No sleep and all the pressure I can handle!

One more quick note:  this week (Monday night to be exact), I made the decision to relinquish my position as saxophonist for a local cover band Platinum.  Platinum is an excellent band comprised of friends whom I have known for over ten years.  We have been extremely successful  and I have enjoyed performing with them.  However, my commitments to other gigs have made it difficult to play with them regularly;  I have been sending a sub to four out of every five gigs.  It seemed foolish to hold onto the gig when I obviously could not be there, and though the band was extremely patient with me, I could understand their desire to have someone in that spot consistently.  Though I'm sure we will miss each other, in the long run this is the best decision.
www.davidfreemanmusic.net

Sharing Music

I've been thinking the past the couple of days about the personal risks of sharing music--not sharing like "I'll burn you a copy", but sharing like "hey, I really like this song, please check it out."

In speaking with a friend, I made mention of a song by David Gray that I like.  My friend blasted the song--hated it!, but the lasting result of our exchange is that I feel like I've exposed myself as a person with inferior musical taste.  I'm not sure why.  I like the song and I like David Gray, and my opinion is just as valid as anyone else's.  Music is such a personal thing--when I'm saying I enjoy a song, I'm saying that it means something to me;  it speaks for me.  I have great respect for my friend's musical opinions--maybe I don't know what I'm talking about after all.

A strong response condemning that song feels like it is also a condemnation of me.  How can I not flinch at the next opportunity to talk about music?
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Yachting on Monday

Yacht Rock did a rare Monday night gig tonight at the Capital City Club in Brookhaven.  It was an extremely low key event, so much that I don't have much to say other than it was pretty loud and the room was (and is) acoustically awful.  We played a handful of tunes we hadn't seen in a while (Sailing and Too Hot) and a couple we wandered through at soundcheck that didn't even make it on the gig (I Keep Forgettin' and Human Nature).  I hope to see them again.

Perhaps the only excitement at the end of the night was the argument a few band members got into with the valet.  When Pete loses his cool, you know you've crossed the line!
www.davidfreemanmusic.net

Downtown Yacht Rock

Yacht Rock played downtown at Ventanas last night for a private party.  If you're familiar with the space you're probably asking "Where?"  The put us in a tent out on the balcony (this is a picture pretty much from where I was on stage, but inside a tent).  It actually fit pretty well, and the fact that we were in the tent meant the room was nice and dead (and we could lay into it without offending anyone).  The gig went very well.  We had Ganesh Giri Jaya subbing for Nick on the front line, and he did an excellent job.
It appears that I have solved my computer problem.  My laptop screen was freaking out the other night (it went all Poltergeist on the Rock Boat, too), and after scouring the internet for a solution, it was suggested that I reset the PRAM.  I won't pretend that I know what that is, but the idea in resetting it is that some power management things get out of wack over time, and you reset that to get everything cleaned up.  For me, it involved popping out the battery and then holding the start button down for five seconds.  No problems now.

The "after party" for the gig was at Mark Bencuya's place.  His family is out of town for the weekend, so all of us (no Nick) went down in his basement to listen to the board tape from the Beatles show.  WOW!  It sounded as good as we remembered it.  The next gig is March 31 at Smith's Olde Bar.  If you're alive at the  end of March, you need to make sure you're there.  There's no other good excuse.

I am skipping my usual church gig to go to Mark Cobb's baby shower tonight.  We have another Yacht Rock gig tomorrow night (a Monday nighter!).
davidfreemanmusic.com

Lots of Music Crammed into a Couple of Days!

The last few days have been stuffed to the gills with music!  It's fun, but it also feels like a roll out of bed, grab the gear I need for the next gig, and head out the door.

Wednesday night was the inaugural Please Pleaserock Me gig, which is a Beatles tribute put on by the same guys who do Yacht Rock.  We packed a whole bunch of people into Smith's Olde Bar and beat 'em over the head with good stuff.  Here are some pictures:

The next one is March 31.  I hate to say it, but you're stupid if you don't attend.

Before the Beatles gig, I had a terrific jazz gig downtown for some sort of weird doomsday convention.  Some of the vendor booths had things like new/improved body bags (where you can suck the air out so the bodies don't decompose as quickly!), and decontamination tents and showers.  Weird stuff, and I'm sure they were hoping to book a jazz trio like us.

As usual, I recorded it, so here's the evidence:  

Here's a picture of Louis Heriveaux (piano) and Kevin Smith (bass) at the gig.

Last night (Thursday) was Yacht Rock at the 10 High.  Very strange stuff.  My laptop was doing this weird thing where the screen looked like it was going to explode--there were horizontal lines across the screen that were fuzzy like they'd had too much coffee.  Then the whole screen got kind of crazy.  I shut the computer down and rebooted, and it seemed ok.
About halfway through the first set, I looked back and noticed it was doing it again.  All the sounds were coming out fine, but the screen was freaking out.  The display eventually went to sleep, but I couldn't get it to come back on.  I played the rest of the first set with no problems, and figured I'd deal with the computer on the break.
So...I thought I'd restart my computer and the screen would be ok.  I shut it down, but the screen didn't come back on...big problem since now I can't get back to Logic for my EWI sounds.  Hmmm.  This is bad.  I shut it down.  I wait.  I turn it back on.  Still nothing.  Just a dim line across the bottom.  Very bad.  I'm thinking that I can midi into the keyboard in front of me and limp through the rest of the gig.  I'm not panicking, but I might as well.
As a last resort, I unplugged all the crap from my computer and gave it a hug and asked it to work one more time for me.  Then I slowly opened it in my lap and pushed the start button.  It worked fine the rest of the gig.

Mark Cobb is taking a leave of absence from the 10 High until after the birth of his son.  I wish it wasn't going to be so long.  Cobb makes the gig for me.  He's so good!  A portait of the man, the myth, the legend (and some Pete):

Tonight's gig was with the Yacht Rock Schooner (the B band to the Yacht Rock Revue) at the Wild Wing Cafe in Alpharetta.  Not a bad little gig, and great for me because I only play sax and flute, so they stack all my songs in the first set.
That band is getting better.  It is very strange to play with them, though, because I'm very used to the parts that Bencuya and I play, and sometimes those parts are significantly different in the Schooner. Did y'all listen to the same song I did? Anyway, it's cool.

Here's a picture of their leader, Ganesh Giri Jaya, looking cool as hell:  

Here's a picture from the stage:  Hooray suburbia!

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Bach Partita excerpts

Here's the flute stuff I recorded the Monday night.  My blog wouldn't let me put two different media players in the same post.  www.davidfreemanmusic.net

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Bizzay!

As you can tell by the fact that I am not around updating this blog as often as I used to, things are crazy busy right now.  Here's a quick off the top of my big bald head recap:

Friday was a House Live gig (me on saxes and flute, Wayne Viar on percussion, and Jeff Burnisky as DJ), playing some sort of private function downtown.  I recorded it so you can get some idea what it sounds like  (though you can't hear the DJ very well--poor microphone placement on my part!).  Here's a picture:

This was a fun gig, and we ended up getting free food at the place across the street!  Baja something...it was good!  Here (hopefully) are mp3 clips:

Saturday was a benefit for the daughter of Blackberry Smoke drummer Britt Turner.  Yacht Rock played a couple of songs at the Peachtree Tavern.  I've never been in there before!  I probably will never go in there again!  Here's a picture (that's me in the background between the guitar and bass):

Sunday night was my usual church gig.  Nothing new to report there.

Monday night I recorded a couple of solo flute things.  You can find them on my website here.  It's Jesu and the two Partita excerpts right above the picture.

That's that!  Tomorrow night is the first Beatles tribute thing at Smith's Olde Bar, brought to you by the guys from Yacht Rock.  The rehearsals sound good, so I'm predicting big things!  As a warm up, I am playing a private jazz trio gig downtown.  I should be flat worn out by tomorrow night.
www.davidfreemanmusic.net